Students of MIT and UCLA conducted a study of the program, Scratch. They wanted to investigate Scratch's use as a tool in extracurricular computer explorations. For their case study, these researchers surveyed 536 projects and 30 children that belonged to the Computer Clubhouse after school program in South Central Los Angeles (Maloney, 2008, p. 1 & p.4). Scratch is a media-oriented computer programming application that enables users to easily create animated video clips and even simple interactive games using coding and programming concepts! The simple commands and programming threads that are available in this application embody the more complicated concepts of computer programming and coding that are essential to the creation of computer-based applications and projects. Many students at the Computer Clubhouse chose Scratch over all other applications that were available to them, and with it, created countless creative, innovative, and entertaining media projects (Maloney, 2008, p. 3). They received minimal help or oversight, yet still acquired an in-depth understanding of the program through their own explorations. Students liked the idea of expressing themselves creatively, and of being the creators of original and entertaining clips that their peers would enjoy. Despite having created intricate command threads for the animation of their pieces, when asked if they knew anything about computer programming, most students replied that they had no idea what computer programming even was (Maloney, 2008, p.4). This is a huge testament to the fact the Scratch has the ability to teach users complex computer programming concepts in a way that is so feasible and fun that users like exploring the program, and don't even realize that they're acquiring valuable skills at the same time!
The following is an example of what users are capable of creating with Scratch: http://info.scratch.mit.edu/node/163
As far as computer programming goes, I think that Scratch is a phenomenal application! However, I do feel like Scratch projects are too time-consuming to be a valuable asset to any subject matters other than computer science or computer explorations. For instance, we spent about a half hour in class creating a video clip of a hawk carrying away a bunny. Now as far as computer programming goes, I learned some great new concepts! However, had that really been an assignment for science class, I don't see the value in spending a half hour programming a scene to demonstrate the simple concept that hawks are higher up on the food chain than bunnies. With so much information in the required curriculum and standards for students, I feel that turning half-minute concepts into half-hour projects could prove to be extremely detrimental. Needless to say, I don't believe that I will be using Scratch as an integral part of my curriculum. I do, however, think that having one major project using Scratch at some point in the school year could be a good experience! For instance, I could introduce Scratch to my class, then give them two or three weeks to create a sort of animated book report! This could be a fun and valuable alternative to a typical essay-based book report.
As the students of this research report found, Scratch is a great new application that can teach valuable computer programming concepts in a way that's fun and accessible for its users! Children of the Computer Clubhouse after school program used Scratch to create their own games and video clips, without even realizing that they were really learning programming skills. What's more, most kids learned these skills with little to no help from their Computer Clubhouse mentors; they simply explored the program for themselves and were able to easily acquire some very valuable concepts! However, as a future classroom teacher, I don't believe that Scratch is appropriate for optimum multi-subject learning. While I may have my students use it once or twice for larger projects such as book reports, I think that Scratch is better suited for middle school and high school computer science classes.
Scratch fulfills three ISTE standards. The artistic aspect of designing animated characters and scenes meets Standard #1: Creativity and Innovation. The planning and management of each character's commands to create a fluid and coherent scene meets Standard #4: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. The general understanding and use of this intricate application meets Standard #6: Technology Operations and Concepts.
Maloney, J., Peppler, K., Kafai, Y. B., Resnick, M., & Rusk, N. (2008, March 15). Programming by Choice: Urban Youth Learning Programming with Scratch. Portland, Oregon, USA.
I agree with you that Scratch is a great asset to teachers and students and helps students use their creative minds to construct unique projects. I also agree with you when you say that it is very time consuming. When I first tried using Scratch, I had a difficult time just trying to figure out how to do one thing. If I am having trouble, I feel it would be very difficult for me to help my students when they are using Scratch as well.
ReplyDeleteHonestly at first I was frustrated with Scratch becuase of the different codes you had to put together, but once I got the hang of it I relaxed and was less stressed. I would use this in my class to do different lessons,I liked the food chain idea we used in class, I did not care for the Fantasy.
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